Tunnel oven for the coking or distillation of fuels



' ova, 25 1926. Q ITMANN HBGOSZIQ TUNNEL OVEN FOR THE coxme OR DISTILLATION OF FUELS Filed Oct. 8, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jnv en tor 4% aac NOV- , TMANN TUNNEL OVEN FOR THE COKING OR DISTILLATION OF FUELS Filed 0 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 23, 1926.

UNITED STATES OTTO HEITMANN, F

LIN-EFFORT, GERMANY.

TUNNEL OVEN FOR THE COKING OR DISTILLATION OF FUELS.

Application filed October 28, 1921, Serial No My invention relates to tunnel ovens for the continuous coking or distillation of bituminous fuels and more particularly to that type of ovens in which the.fuel is contained 6 in retorts mounted on trucks travelling through heating flues extending within the oven, the retorts being directly acted upon by the hot gases.

In my oven, these truck retorts are' ar- .10 ranged to form with the tunnel walls a closed heating chamber, or rather two heating chambers, one on each side of the truck retort between the wall of the retort and the adjacent wall of the tunnel, the chamber or chambers being out of direct communication with the-atmosphere and with the interior of the retorts.

'It' is an object of my invention to provide improved means in an oven of this type for supplying a fluid, for instance gas or combustion air to the heating chamber or chambers. To this .end I provide an inspection tunnel below each heating tunnel and arrange the controls of the supplying means in these inspection tunnels. With this arrangement the gas or air supplying means can be adjusted at any time during the operation of the oven so that its operation can be re ulated with great e-xactitude.

egenerators or recuperators may be combined with this oven for preheating the air for-combustion. The gas may alsobe preheated if desired or necessary, for instance, if poor gas is employed.

It is another object of my invention to provide improved means for connecting the truck retorts with a gas discharge header. To this end I provide movable extensions, so-called bells, on the ends of the branch pipes from the header to the retorts, these bells being adapted to be lowered onto the retorts. By this simple expedient each retort has its own connection with the header, the pyrogenous constituents of the products are thus obtained at a minimum loss, and the products of distillation are withdrawn from the retorts Without interfering with the truck retorts moving through the oven.

In the drawings aflixed to this specification and forming art thereof an oven embodying my invention is illustrated diagrammatically by way of example.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of one of the tunnels of an oven according to my invention which comprises two parallel tun- 511,228, and in Germany February 28, 1921.

nels, and of the forebays connected with these tunnels in which the trucks for the retorts are shunted.

Fig. 2 is a section of the oven on the line G-H and Fig. 3 is a section of the rear, end forebay on the line I-K in Fig. 1, Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section similar to Fig. 1-, but drawn to alarger scale, illustrating one of the bells for connecting the truck retorts with the header for the discharge of the distillation products,

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section similar to Fig. 1, but drawn to a larger scale, showing one of the truck retorts and the means for supplying fluid to its heating chambers and to the interior of the retort, and

Fig. 6 is another section on the line GH of Fig. 1 showing the base portion of a retort and its heating chambers drawn to a larger scale than in Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawings, a and a" are the two parallel tunnels of the oven in which the retort trucks (1 are moved on tracks in the usual manner. I; and b are forebays at the ends of the oven in which strips'at the upper and lower ends of said truckretorts. These strips project into troughs which may be filled with sand or other refractory material. In this manner heating chambers e are formed on each side of the retorts between them and the adjacent tunnel walls, such chambers being closed at the top and bottom by the strips 9, 9 so that they are out of direct communication with the atmosphere and with the interior of said retorts. Inspection tunnels o are arranged below and in parallel to'each tunnel and are connected with arched transverse outlets (Figs. 1 and 5) A heating gas header 2 is arranged at the end of the oven, as shown in Fig. 5, and gas mainsz' extend from such header along each inspection passage 4). Branch pipes z are connected to the mains and to gas passages min the walls of the oven. In the present instance the heating chambers e are provided with six passages 00 for each truck retort d. Burners 1- connected to the passages w open into the heating chambers e (Fig. 6). Air for combustion is supplied to the passages a? through horizontal passages m' with which are connected extensions m' of the gas passages as. The control members for the gas pipessuch as cocks or valves, are arranged in the inspection passages so as to be readily accessible from these passages and the supply of combustion air to the passages on can also be regulated by suitable controlling means in the passages, such means not being shown in the drawings in order to avoid confusion but being obvious to any expert without further explanation. Instead of providing a main passage m for the heating gas from which branches 0 extend .to the heating chambers, a separate passage may be connected to each passage r and may be provided with separate controlling means.

Air for combustion is submitted through passages g in the floors of the inspection passages o and into a recuperator p arranged below the inspection passages 4); control members (not shown) may be provided in the passages for regulating the flow of air through the passages. Obviously, a regenerator may be provided instead of a re cuperator. The air for combustion is heated and conducted to the passages a? through passages 11;" which are connected with the air chambers of the recuperator p. A fan 226 is provided for drawing the products of combustion from the heating chambers e. A passage is connected with the heating chambers e by means of horizontal passages and ports at the base portions of the chambers so that the products of combustion are withdrawn simultaneously from all the chambers and are discharged into a stack (not shown) by the fan pt.

The air for combustion, instead of being heated in the recuperator p as described, may also be supplied directly to the heating chambers e from the inspection passages e )Vhenthe ovenis operated with poor gas, the gas is heated in a similar manner as described for the combustion air.

As shown in Fig. 5, each truck retort (l is subdivided into two chambers by a pan tition d. These chambers are connectedby a port 2 above the partition. Each retort is provided with a charging opening 0 which may be closed by a suitable valve (not shown). The distillates from the retort chambers are conducted to a header is through vertical branch pipes Z with extensions comprising bells 3 which are adapted to be displaced axially on the branch pipes l and to be lowered down onto the common dlscharge ports 2 above the partitions d.

The discharge ports 2 areprovided with valves 2' for closing them when the bell 3 is not n operation. All the bells of an oven are interconnected by cables 4 so that they may be raised and lowered in unison when the retort trucks 03 are displaced. Movable partitions 10 may be provided above each retort so as to divide the top part of the tunnel into a plurality of chambers, one for each retort. However, as the retorts are connected directly with the header is, such partitions are not strictly required and may also be dispensed with.

The charging of the retorts is ettected by means of hoppers 5 at the top of the front end forebay b and pipes 6 connected-with these hoppers are adapted-to be lowered into the openings 0 of the retorts. \Vhen the retort trucks arrive at the rear end 'forebay 6, their bottoms s are lowered by means of a travelling crane 7 from which the bottoms s are suspended by cables 7; are secured-in the retorts by bolts Instead of a travelling crane, as illustrated, means for handling the bottoms 8 may be arranged on the travelling platform a. The residue The bottoms s from the retorts is taken up by chutes 8 and conducted to trays 8 or the like.

In order to enable theoven to be operated as a gas producer I may provide a pipe line If in the inspection passage 12 below and between the tracks. In the tunnels corresponding pipe lines 6 are secured below the bottoms sof the retorts and connected to the retorts by branch pipes t. A detachable connection t is inserted between the pipe lines t and t, and valves (not shown) are provided for regulating the supply of fluid to the retorts. Steam, air or other fluids may be alternately introduced or blown into the retorts.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A tunnel oven comprising a tunnel, truck retorts adapted to be moved through said. tunnel and to form with the tunnel wall a closed heating chamber between them and the tunnel wall. said chamber being out of direct communication with the atmosphere and with the interior of said retorts, an inspection tunnel below said retort tunnel, means for supplying fluid to said heating chamber, and means in said inspection tunnel for controlling said supplying means.

2. A tunnel oven. comprising a tunnel, truck retorts adapted to be moved through said tunnel and to form with the tunnel wall a closed heating chamber between them and the tunnelv wall, "said chamber being out of direct communication with the atmosphere and with the interior of said retorts, an inspection tunnel below said retort tunnel, means for supplying fluid to said heating chamber, means in said inspection tunnel for controlling said supplying means, and means for heating such fluid with the waste heat from the oven.

3. A tunnel oven comprising a tunnel, truck retorts adapted to be moved through said tunnel and to form with the tunnel wall Q closed heating chamber between them and the tunnel wall, said chamber being out of direct communication with the atmosphere and with the interior of said retorts, an inspection tunnel below said retort tunnel, burners in said heating chamber, and means in said inspection tunnel for controlling the fluid supply to said burners.

4. A tunnel. oven comprising a tunnel, truck retorts adapted to be moved through said tunnel and to form with the tunnel wall a closed heating chamber between them and the tunnel wall, said chamber being out of direct communication with the atmosphere and with the interior of said retorts, a header for. removing gas from said retorts, branch pipes connected with said header, an extension adapted to be displaced on each branch pipe so as to be lowered onto said 'retorts, means on said extension for making a tight connection with said retorts, an inspection tunnel below said retort tunnel, means for supplying fluid to said heating chamber, and means in said inspection tunnel for control ling said supplying means.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

OTTO HEITMANN 

